Storyteller and strategist at the intersections of cannabis, branding & communications, justice, and Urbanism.

Sep 27 As Mama Ru said, “Social media is a choice, not mandatory.”

I don’t know how many notes are in my phone of story ideas and potential characters. Or, how many times I only wrote the first scene and never looked back.

Don’t worry, I’m not going to wax on about being a lazy writer (no matter how true it is). I’m writing this to sign off from Facebook and to check back into my life.

Facebook is an amazing tool. It allows us to stay connected to the people we’ve met and continues to expand the ways it brings us together. However, for me, Facebook is toxic.

Near the end of high school and the beginning of college, I stopped writing creatively. In high school, I was very active on Goodreads (pre-Amazon) and the writing community fostered there in the early days. We chatted about writing, edited each other’s work, submitted and published stories…it was riveting. At one point, I even talked to a publishing agent.

Then, I stopped.

College happened, life happened…whatever happened — I stopped writing. When I did write, it was on Facebook or for PR classes. I even chose PR as my major because of its emphasis on writing with practical applications in the working world. However, the “practical applications in the working world” is the part I should’ve cared the least about.

After four years at Alabama, writing felt foreign to me for the first time in my life. Somewhere in the all the debating and strategic writing, I lost my passion. Instead of storylines, I was writing communication plans. Instead of creating, I was arguing over what exists.

In losing writing, I lost my mind. When I put down the pen, I spiraled. It happened over a couple years and it wasn’t until I was at the bottom that I saw how writing had been my solace. For me, writing was the only way to quiet the storm in my head.

For the past several years, Facebook has been cathartic for me in this way. It’s allowed me to process new ideas and perspectives, while solidifying my own. It’s connected people to me who probably wouldn’t have known much about me outside of class or casual gossip. For this, Facebook has been my favorite and most useful tool.

But, I’m taking a step back. Well, pivoting. If these past few years have taught me anything about myself, it’s that — for whatever reason — y’all like what I got to say. So, I’m going to work on saying it better.

From here on out, I’m moving political / current event opinions to Medium. I’ll still use Facebook to keep up with everyone but, just as I graduated college, it’s time to move on to something new. I’ve been the kid with loud opinions, it’s time to be a thought leader.

To do that, I decided the things I liked and the things I didn’t like about myself. I decided to value myself, my opinions and my time because I’m one of those crazy people who can shape the world around me through sheer force of will. More importantly, I stopped feeling guilty for thinking that.